Kimber Solo 9mm

[TMan]

This was mentioned in another post having the link to the web-site: www.kimberamerica.com/solo

I went up to Becky's today to pick up my guinea pig. Since I was out of town yesterday, and the taxidermist was going in for surgery today, she picked it up for me. I looked at Jenny and said: "Jenny, what have you been eating, you look stuffed." Well, I thought it was funny.

Anyhow, setting on Becky's desk were 4 Kimber Solo's. I opened a box and looked at one. It was the Solo Carry, not the stainless version. It came in a nice rug, but cardboard box.

It is definitely built better than the Diamondback 9, but it is not a 1911, and there is a sheet of paper that explains that it is not a 1911.

I wondered if one wanted to go home with me, but then she told me that she had 21 people on the back-ordered list. Guess I'll have to hold out for the stainless, should I ever decide to get one.

Whoops, I forgot to ask her what she was selling them for price wise.

[MLB]

American Rifleman came in the mailbox yesterday, and I read up on the Solo. It's the cover story.

I held one at the local boomstick store recently. Very good feel to it, but I'm partial to all metal guns. It's not a 1911 by any means. Precocked striker. Slipped into my pocket nicely, but I recall it being somewhere north of $700. I didn't like it that much.

[5ontarget]

Sept 22, 2011 13:09:43 GMT -5 MLB said:

American Rifleman came in the mailbox yesterday, and I read up on the Solo. It's the cover story.

I held one at the local boomstick store recently. Very good feel to it, but I'm partial to all metal guns. It's not a 1911 by any means. Precocked striker. Slipped into my pocket nicely, but I recall it being somewhere north of $700. I didn't like it that much.

Similar story and outcome here too. Looked good to me, felt good to me, but I didn't feel THAT good after looking at the price.

[TMan]

$ig Sauer pricey? ;D Yup, but the owners are used to paying through the nose.

[5ontarget]

Sept 26, 2011 17:35:32 GMT -5 TMan said:

$ig Sauer pricey? ;D Yup, but the owners are used to paying through the nose.

Agreed, same story applies to Sig. Looks good, feels good, Price not good. I keep my eyes open for a used one, and when I find it, I'll grab it. In the meantime, I have plenty of other guns to shoot. I've been trying to talk a friend out of his, to no avail.

[TA]

I am really curious to see how the Solo shakes out. When you hold it, you can definitely see that it is well made pistol. The first two we got in sold immediately. One of them came back. The customer said it FTF constantly. So I took it home and loaded the magazines. I couldn't get more than 3 rounds without a failure. We refunded the customer and sent it back to Kimber.

I really hope Kimber works it out. They are a really nice comfortable gun.

[TMan]

TA, any feedback from Kimber on the problem with the one that you sent back?

I wasn't really too keen on getting one, but after harassing Becky in front of some other customers, and having her give in - I was committed.

It is heavy, and the weight is in the slide. I've been carrying the Hellcat (380 ACP) in the right hand pants pocket and I don't even know that it is there. This is heavy enough that I'd definitely know that it was there.

Granted, it does appear to be well made. Also, on the positive side: the trigger pull is one of the nicest I've seen on a striker fired pistol. It is much better than the old Kahr that I had.

Becky told me that one of her customers said that when you insert the magazine, you have to previously have the slide locked open. I've looked at the geometry and I don't see what that is true i.e. it doesn't make any sense to me. It would be easier to insert the magazine if the slide was locked open, but I think that is true of any magazine fed semi-automatic (with the exception of the Walther SSP).

One flaky little item is the slide stop spring. It is a tiny spring that is barely visible after removing the slide stop. It's function is to keep the slide stop in the lowermost position until the magazine is emptied. At this point the magazine would push the slide stop up. When you insert the slide stop, you have to ensure that you pick up this spring. If you don't you are gong to have failures.

I don't know when I'll get around to shooting this thing, but I won't carry it until after it has been broken in, and it has to be tested with the ammo that I will carry in it.

Like the Clock, it has to be pre-cocked i.e. there is no second strike capability. Unlike the Clock (well my modified ones anyhow), the trigger pull is quite long before the sear is finally released. I think it could be smoothed out a little and it could be modified to release earlier, but why bother it is meant to be a defensive pistol.

I know I could take heat for saying this, but I'll say it anyhow: how much is your life worth? If your life depended on it, would you be satisfied carrying a pistol that only cost half as much, but didn't have the same quality?

I still have the Kele-Etc PF-9, and I think I have something else, oh I remember: the Diamondback DB-9. Both together probably cost me less than the Solo, but the other thing that you get with quality is: peace-of-mind.

It is doubtful if this pistol is going to go into storage any time soon.

DA, can you move this thread to be under Pocket Pistols?

["DoubleAction"]

..Done ;D

[TMan]

Thanks DA.

I took the pistol to the range on Friday. It got a lot of attention. One of the guys that was shooting a Ruger LCP loved it. He shot it and did not find the recoil unacceptable.

The trigger pull isn't all that long, and it is very smooth. Of course part of this is because it does have that pre-cock like the Glock has. Unfortunately, I can't compare it to one of my two Glocks because both of them have after-market parts.

I'm not sure why manufacturers go the pre-cock route. It does make the trigger pull shorter, but it eliminates the second strike capability i.e. if it is a bad primer, dirty firing pin, or didn't fully chamber the round, you can't just pull the trigger again.

On a recent gun show Bill Laughridge was talking about trigger weights on defensive pistols, and he was using the 1911 as an example. He said that you can get a sub-2lb trigger pull on a 1911, but if you are going to use the gun in a defensive situation, you should never go below 5lbs. The reason is that in a situation where you are going to be pulling the gun, your brain is not functioning normally: you won't feel the trigger and will go through the take-up and fire the gun.

A two-stage trigger with a light second stage, in my opinion, is the most dangerous situation. Just with my target guns, I've had the gun go off when I wasn't expecting it to. I've seen Ed do the same thing when shooting the same gun.

I was a little surprised at the Kimber documentation stating to use very little lubrication on the gun. I guess it is Glock like in that aspect.

Kimber is not my favorite manufacturer, but I don't dislike them. Having said that, I must admit that they hit it out of the park with the Solo. It is very well made and the only problem encountered is that it didn't lock open after the last round when one guy was shooting it. I'm thinking that he was limp-wristing it, and that says something too: it ran in spite of the limp-wristing.

Accuracy at 7 yards was good compared to the competition. It shot just slightly low.

Somewhere I have a box of personal protection 9mm ammo, but I don't know where it is. If I had the ammo, I'd have shot it in the gun and start carrying it. It is that good.

[MLB]

Glad to hear that it ran that well. It may be just me, but I'd far prefer a precocked smooth trigger to a second strike capability in a defensive handgun. While I'd certainly give a (potentially dud) round another click at the range, that situation in a defensive handgun gets the old tap-rack treatment.

[TMan]

How well does the tap-rack work when there aren't any more rounds in the magazine? I like the fact that Heizer mentions that they have a second-strike capability. Of course this assumes that the gun is still in your hand after the recoil from the first round.

I can imagine what the recoil must feel like shooting a 45 ACP 230 GR bullet out of that little thing. The Solo is 17oz, and I'm shooting a 9mm round out of it. I definitely notice that the round has gone off, but it is nothing like the S&W 360 @ 11oz and 357 Magnum round, which is just plain painful.